Comments

concerned

I don't see anything wrong with tac, sadic, or the chamber of commerce taking up these type causes and using private funds to meet their objectives.I do have a problem with our local government using taxpayer money for purposes other than what it was levied for. I believe that cuts to the very foundation of our constitution, which clearly states that levied tax money can only be used for the purposes for which it was levied. If we do not uphold our constitution the whole foundation of our society will crumble. That is the real structure that is in danger of deterioration and yet no one seems to care about that. Our politicians just seem to want to use our tax money to expand government's role and for purposes not authorized. Some of them cry for a less intrusive government all the while devising plans that expand government's role. The important foundation that is crumbling is that of our constitution. I ask: which foundations is more important to our well being????

ladybug

LisaCahill

The TAC is delighted with Mr. Nestic's idea to bring together the City Council, City government, the CIC, SAIDC, the Chamber, and perhaps others to share the effort of revitalizing downtown. Members of the TAC and others attending the meeting last night expressed willingness to give their time to help with these efforts. A thriving downtown will support an increased income stream for the business owners, the building owners, and, most importantly, the City that provides services to us all.

There are a couple of misunderstandings that continue to be repeated as if they were fact. First, the $50 per person figure was a PER CAPITA number - the total divided by the number of residents to show the magnitude of the issue. This is a normal way to quote statistics, and you will hear such quotes often on the national news and other places. The current cost per capita of local government in Columbiana County is about $2,400 per person. ...Continued on next comment

LisaCahill

(That is not for County government, that is for all kinds of local government - county, city, township, etc.) Does that mean we each send a check to local government for that amount? No. It is just a way to show magnitude. (2002 figures from a 2008 study entitled "Cost of Government Study for Northeast Ohio." I went to the link in the report and found data specific to our area.)

However the downtown revitalization project is ultimately funded, there are two important things to know.

1. It will be done according to the laws and regulations governing that specific kind of funding. If it is done as an income tax increase and you don't have much income, you won't pay much, because that is how an income tax is structured. If it is done as a bond issue, it will be done according to those laws and paid back according to those laws. Etc.

2. The TAC feels that public money should go to public expenses, such as parking.

LisaCahill

Private money should go to private expenses, such as repairing a building. If I have a building downtown and I have neglected to fix the roof for 10 years, why should public money "bail me out." It shouldn't and under the TAC's plan, it won't. Think of the downtown as having individual buildings and "systems". The building owners are responsible for the buildings. The City is responsible for the systems, like parking, traffic flow, etc. If every building owner makes his building absolutely perfect, and occupies it with a great business, but the customers who drive through town can't find a parking place so they can stop and shop, it won't be successful. Both the systems and the buildings have to be fixed. It has to be a City effort AND an individual effort. We are all in this together and the only way to get out of it is together.

LisaCahill

Thanks, Mr. Nestic and City of Salem, for gathering a coalition of groups that want to help the downtown and getting them coordinated and on board. We certainly have a big enough problem to go around, but if everyone takes a piece of it, it will be solved. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. There is no more worthy "journey" or effort than saving our downtown.

stavros

Why does mr. Cahill think that the citizens of Salem should pay to revitalize the city. No one pays for me to maintain my home but me. His so called head tax is ridiculous. If these lazy building owners were made to maintain there building we wouldn't be in this mess, instead the city has allowed them to become a bunch of slum owners. We should not be taxed because of building owners who are to lazy to maintain there buildings. I am all for creating a great downtown and bringing in new business but it will not happen as long as Pat Morrisey is head of Planning and Zoning. He along with a former administration were instrumental in keeping businesses out of this city as to protect the mom and pop stores. There is enough business at all the store in this town to allow other businesses to locate here. The City needs to get the money to fund this project and not fund it on the backs of the citizens.

poolboy34

I would like to see Salem's downtown revitalized. As a resident, I always try to keep my business local (city and county). Tho' this plan is not perfect, I believe it is a good starting point (one must crawl before one can walk). Why not look to other cities that have been successful in their revitalization and garner ideas that way. I don't have a problem with my taxes being used to improve parking, streets, infrastructure etc, but I want assurances that the private building owners will not make improvements/repairs to their property without any public monies. Maybe there should be a fund raiser for that? Whoever wants to donate money to the project, can.

Cahill

The problems of our downtown involve systems and buildings. The buildings are owned by individuals. The systems are owned by the City. The TAC asked the building owners to fix their buildings and the City to fix the systems and parking. This is not an expansion of governments role. This is governments role. No Individual can take a failing building. The City can under the Ohio Nuisance Building Statute. We ask them to do so. It is not the responsibility of any non-profit to fix a failing downtown. That is clearly a function of government. We ask the government to do its job. We are not asking for a hand out. The effort of rehabilitation of our downtown will produce a significant increase in the tax revenue to the city. This is how the cost of the revitalization will be paid. The shortfall of cost to income is short lived and is a reasonable assumption of debt or short-term taxation increase. We share our city. Please help us to make it better for us and our children.

questioner

A very big question that needs to be addressed is: What if the building which is falling down already has liens on it and the owner cannot/will not be able to afford to take it down? Should we do nothing while it gets worse, more bricks fall and the potential for major damage to other buildings, cars, people increases? While I disagree with so much of the TAC plan and I really disagree with it all going so far without those involved getting background information on Mr. Cahill and his former companies, work etc., can we step aside from that for a minute to address the problem of one building that does affect us as a city? (I really wouldn't want to see the cost of lawsuits if something terrible happens.) Can we have intelligent conversation about what to do if a building needs to come down but the owner cannot pay for it? Suggestions? Surely our tax money can pay for the removal of a hazard? (I don't like it, but I like the potential problems of doing nothing even less.)

concerned

The city did get involved in the revitalization of downtown a few years back. That is how we got the brick streets and underground wiring for lights and such. Did the city come back then? No it did not. Here we are about 20 years later right back to the same place we were before that revitalization. What will make this one any better?

concerned

Questioner I think the city could use tax money to take down the dangerous building, after it was ordered by a court that it had to come down, but they should also put a lien on the property and/or force a sale of the land to pay for the demolition. Those that have bank loans on I think it would be up to the courts to determine that situation. But at any rate legal procedure has to be followed.

outlaw

"Nestic told members of the TAC he wants to get together with Mayor John Berlin and other organizations, such as the Community Improvement Corporation, the Salem Area Industrial Development Corporation (SAIDC), Salem Area Chamber of Commerce and others to figure out a response to the proposal."

Now TAC is added.

Yehhhhhhhhhhhawwww, King Nestic gathers his court! I predict in about another 10 years this group of jesters will add at least another half of dozen more new organizations (private party clubs) to this list and Salem with still be the crappy town it is today!

King Nestic, I am sick of hearing the same saga out of your mouth that always start out "5 years projected plans". Want to do you do carry that same script in your pocket? When are you going to get it? The people of this town are SICK of dumping funding into these failed projects over and over but makes somebody feel good because they are member of it. GET REAL.

outlaw

The only problem we have in our town is GOVERNMENT and they are USELESS.

In the meantime, you continue to tax my family as if our money is CANDY. But yet you want make a street downtown PRETTY. But yet my neighborhood is FALLING APART. Homes that are now RENTAL properties. Streets and sidewalks that haven’t been touched in years. Drug scum moving in at a fast pace. A neighborhood that is getting so bad, I am starting to LIKE my kids staying indoors playing video games…at least it keeps them SAFE from the scum growing around here. Property values in my neighborhood have dropped horribly, I couldn’t even sell my home if I wanted to move out of this crappy town. Insurance rates have rocketed. Utility costs have tripled but yet you want to me to fund a “downtown fountain”? ARE YOU FOR REAL?

City Council's Committee of the Whole? Yeah right!! More like YOU neglect the WHOLE!

outlaw

Cahill my kids are not coming downtown, pretty or ugly. Pretty buildings don't change the scum down there hanging out. Got it? You don't care about our town as a whole, you only want it better for you and your business dealings, not our kids. You know the old saying. "you can put lipstick on a pig, it is still a pig".

concerned

"It is not the responsibility of any non-profit to fix a failing downtown. That is clearly a function of government." Where does it say government's role is to fix a failing downtown? Please tell us where we can find that in the constitution. Is your philosophy that government is the answer to a failing business? Also what are these systems that are owned by the city that you think need fixed? The only systems I can think of that the city owns are water and sewer systems. Are they not working properly? They have a street thru there the sidewalks are the responsibility of the building owner so exactly what systems is it that need fixed??

WatchDog

Lisa states: "A thriving downtown will support an increased income stream for the business owners, the building owners, and, most importantly, the City that provides services to us all."

With all due respect, common sense has to be applied here, the success of downtown Salem isn't about what the outside looks like, the success comes from INSIDE those stores and businesses. All the paint jobs, store front renovations, added greenery, fountains, trolley cars, blah blah blah is not going to change the fact...you are still dealing with the same income leveled community. This City is growing poverty all around you. There is no “balanced growth.” The middle class of people is dwindling away. I can promise you that NRP project on the east side isn’t going to be doing downtown Salem any favors. Middle class is not moving into Salem. Lower income family's are moving into Salem. If you believe that this project is going to get shoppers from Canton, Alliance, Leetonia, Pittsburg

WatchDog

...Pittsburgh, Canfield, Boardman to come here to shop ...you are nuts. Those shoppers or customers are going to stay in there own areas to try and shore up their own economy.

All these complaints are not complaints about your project. There are some great ideas in that 70 page wish list. There truly is, but you have to come down to the reality level of Salem as a whole. I just had a neighbor last summer repaint his entire home. Gave his home a brand new makeover, it looked fabulous, right up until some punk decided to graffiti up his garage. That brand new paint job didn’t drive off the scum. The problem with this project, this is the typical band aid fix. What are the projected costs for after the fact? In other words, it’s real easy to slap two million bucks into this magnificent idea but what about long term costs. Maintenance, upkeep everything it would take to keep downtown looking that way and the burden of cost on the city and the taxpayers?

WatchDog

I am not going to stop and shop because you happen to have a nice looking store front. I am going to drive by and comment on how nice it looks and keep on driving right on past to stores I can afford to shop at. That is the make up of this community. The national economy has dictated this. Nobody likes it but it just happens to be the reality we are facing. Salem has to take steps to bring in JOBS to balance this all out. Housing and JOBS. You can't have one without the other.

salem1361

A lot of the comments regarding taxing the citizens to fix up downtown businesses are spot on. While we may need something done, I agree when it was said that this falls on the zoning department which in Salem is a joke. I have run up against them many a time trying to get them to just do something, anything to improve this town and its zoning. Morrisey could care less. His job does not depend on whether he does it or not. He just has to show up. Oh, and as for the Lion and the Lamb owners. Why would I help them with their building when they don't care how their home looks or affects their own neighbors values. I can't respect any business owner who can't respect the very neighborhood they live in. Let these business owners crawl out of the gutter they created with years of neglect.

questioner

Salem 1361, Get your facts straight. Lion and Lamb people are saying the city and people of Salem should Not pay for a bailout. I'm not sure who you have them confused with, but don't make accusations without knowing for sure who and what you're referring to.